“Design supports an open approach in which anyone in the organization can participate to generate solutions, make insightful and meaningful decisions, and build empathetic services that address needs that customers themselves may not know they have.” – Subject to Change by Peter Merholz, Brandon Schauer, David Verba, and Todd Wilkens

Purchase Subject to Change for more on “creating great products and services for an uncertain world.”

1. Design needs to be embedded as a competency within an organization
2. UX professionals are uniquely trained to represent the needs and desires of our customers
3. In UX design, mindset is more important than process

“By going deep into our customers’ lives and closely observing their behaviors, you can wow them when you address needs that they’d never be able to articulate. By immersing yourself in the customer’s wider world of emotion and culture, you can wow them by attuning the offering to practical needs and dimensions of delight that normally go unfulfilled.” – Subject to Change by Peter Merholz, Brandon Schauer, David Verba, and Todd Wilkens

Be sure to pick up Subject to Change by four members of Adaptive Path.  This book describes how businesses can use customer experiences to inform and shape the product development process.

1. People challenge social and cultural boundaries in unexpected ways
2. Your customers are not you
3. Deeply understanding customers allows companies to develop products that revolutionize the way we live our lives

“When we’re trying to understand our ‘users’ and ‘customers,’ we have to remember that they’re people just like us, and just like us they regularly cross understood boundaries and categories… People are inconsistent, often inarticulate, and they challenge social and cultural boundaries in unexpected ways.” – Subject to Change by Peter Merholz, Brandon Schauer, David Verba, and Todd Wilkens

Subject to Change by four great folks at Adaptive Path is a fabulous look at customer experience and how focusing on it can transform companies. I highly recommend it!

1. Go deep into your customers’ lives and immerse yourself in their world
2. Designers must consider unseen elements such as social relationships, power dynamics, and cultural rules
3. Interaction design finds ways to better connect people